A Family Travel Guide toHistoric Williamsburg

How to Navigate Virginia’s Historic Triangle with Kids

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Table of ContentsIntroduction ...............................................................................................................4-5Navigating the Historic Triangle ................................................................................. 6

• What Tickets to Purchase ....................................................................................... 6• The Insiders’ Way to Plan Your Trip Most Successfully .......................................... 6• The First Night Planning ......................................................................................... 7• Visiting Jamestown ................................................................................................. 8

○ Jamestown Settlement ..................................................................................... 8○ Historic Jamestown ........................................................................................ 10

• Visiting Yorktown .................................................................................................. 11○ American Revolution Museum ...................................................................... 11○ Yorktown Battlefield ....................................................................................... 13

• Visiting Colonial Williamsburg ............................................................................... 14○ Looking at the Colonial Williamsburg Map ..................................................... 15○ School Groups ............................................................................................... 16○ How to Work with Interpreters ........................................................................ 16○ A Few Favorites .............................................................................................. 17○ Art Museums .................................................................................................. 19○ Shopping ........................................................................................................ 19

• Optional Additional Activities in the Surrounding Areas ....................................... 20

Practical Tips to Smooth Your Way ......................................................................... 22• When to Go ........................................................................................................... 22• Where to Stay ....................................................................................................... 22• When and How to Eat ........................................................................................... 23• What to Reasonably Expect from Children .......................................................... 23

Appendix A: The Historic Triangle and History Reading ...................................24-25Appendix B: One Group’s Colonial Williamsburg Flow .....................................26-27

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IntroductionLooking for a family destination to enrich your homeschool experience and give your kids a deeper appreciation for American history? Virginia’s Historic Triangle is an excellent option! For less than the price of a day at Disney, you can explore

Historic Williamsburg for an entire week.

Your Read-Alouds and history studies suddenly click for kids as they tour the Historic Triangle. You and your children become immersed in America’s journey

from tiny English settlement to a fledgling nation through the interactive displays, films, museums, and re-enactments of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.

This guide is designed to help you make the most of your trip to Historic Williamsburg, outlining which attractions to tour, pointing out pro tips, and even

providing a possible itinerary. Enjoy!

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About the Historic TriangleAll of the sites in the Historic Triangle are set in the period before the United States had formed as a nation: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown.

1. Jamestown

Jamestown was first settled by Europeans in 1607. This was the site where Captain James Smith met Pocahontas and where settlers first grew tobacco. Explore this first permanent colony to learn what life was like for the earliest settlers. Walk in the colonists’ footsteps at James Fort and learn about the years of hardships they endured establishing a new land.

1. Williamsburg

The city of Williamsburg was first settled in 1638. In 1699, it became the capital of the Colony and Commonwealth of Virginia, and remained so for the next 81 years. Most of the educational programming is set during the period between 1750 and 1776—the lead-up to the Revolutionary War. During this time, Virginia was still a colony under the King of England. Williamsburg was one of the most populous and significant cities at this time, and many men of influence lived and worked there. Touring Williamsburg will leave your family with a glimpse into what it was like for the colonists as rebellion was stirring in America.

1. Yorktown

The Revolutionary War dragged on for many years. The final decisive battle was the siege at Yorktown in 1781. Yorktown Battlefield and Victory Center offer the opportunity to see the hardships of many years of war, and relive the elation of our forefathers once their dedication and sacrifice paid off in freedom.

In the Historic Triangle, you’ll go from the starvation and survival in 1607, to a bustling city only 170 years later, then on to a battlefield and a desperate fight for freedom.

The three different locations that make up the Historical Triangle.

Photo: Colonial Williamsburg (2018). [image] Available at: http://www.history.org/foundation/historic_triangle.cfm [Accessed 21 Jun. 2018].

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Navigating the Historic TriangleHere are some tips to make the most of your visit, avoid the crowds and have a great time, without breaking the bank.

What Tickets to PurchaseThe Historic Triangle tickets are one of the best values in entertainment in America today. As of fall 2018, admission to five parks for seven consecutive days costs $93.50 for adults and $42.75 for young people ages 6-15. Children under 6 are free. Included in the tickets is access to:

1. Colonial Williamsburg (both the historic site and interpretive museum)

2. Jamestown Settlement (the interpretative museum)

3. Historic Jamestown (the actual site of the first English settlement)

4. American Revolution Museum at Yorktown (the interpretive museum)

5. Yorktown Battlefield (the actual site of the deciding battle)

The Insiders’ Way to Plan Your Most Successful TripThough you could just show up on any given day and have a great time, a little additional planning will make your trip flow more smoothly and ensure that you don’t miss something you really wanted to experience.

To determine what to do, and when, use your Colonial Williamsburg days as a foundation, then add in the other day trips.

Colonial Williamsburg releases their weekly schedule of programming here: https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/plan/calendar, and they also offer an app.

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Additional Planning Sugguestions If, on the day you travel, you arrive in Williamsburg before 5pm, first go to the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center and buy your tickets for the week. Get a few maps for your group, and request the printouts of the daily calendar of events activities for all of the days you will be in the area. This is the key secret to maximizing your trip! For example, if arriving on a Sunday afternoon and planning to leave on Friday, ask the ticket agent for the event printouts for all six days.

Immediately look over your current day’s activities and note any that sound good. Put the rest of the printouts aside for later.

If you have an hour or more before 5pm, walk or take the shuttle to Colonial Williamsburg and see a few of the trade shops. If the Fife and Drum Corps is performing (usually the last thing in the day), make that a priority.

The First Night PlanningThe night prior to your first full day, review your collection of Colonial Williamsburg event printouts with your family, and take note of the events that are of most interest. Usually a few of the days will have plays, tours, improv shows, or concerts that will sound especially interesting to you and your fellow travelers. Because there are countless possibilities at Colonial Williamsburg, use those event schedules as the baseline for your planning.

For example, if you arrive on Sunday and look at the Colonial Williamsburg events for Monday through Friday, perhaps Tuesday and Thursday seem to have the best extra programming for your group. In that case, plan to go to Jamestown on Monday, and Yorktown on Wednesday, leaving Friday open to enjoy any additional Colonial Williamsburg activities, or to visit additional museums in the area—a catch-all day.

If there is any programming with additional fees—like performances or carriage rides—plan to get your tickets as soon as possible, as they can sell out. (You can order these through the Colonial Williamsburg Explorer app for digital tickets, or buy them in person at one of the ticket counters.)

All the programs are wonderful. You can’t go wrong—just choose based on your family’s preferences.

Plan to visit Jamestown before Yorktown. And if you can avoid Jamestown on a Friday in the spring, do so. Fridays are a peak day for school field trips to the Jamestown Settlement.

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Visiting Jamestown

Plan for a full day for the two attractions

Jamestown Settlement & Historic Jamestowne*

Jamestown SettlementStart with this enormous complex as it’s one of the most amazing historical museums you will ever see. Maximize your experience by visiting each attraction in this order:

1. 1607 Ships

Three re-created ships are on display. Board and explore! How did anyone have the courage to cross the Atlantic in such a small craft, with such cramped quarters, for such a long time? Learn about the settlers’ four-and-a-half-month voyage, as well as piloting and navigation used during the 17th century. Ask questions of the interpreters**—they have information about everything, and are happy to share it with the curious learner.

2. Powhatan Indian Village

Did you know that the Powhatan had a complex system of government? Pocahontas’ father, the leader of the Powhatan people, was their equivalent of the president, and there were also leaders like state governors and city mayors. Learn more about their structured government and their way of life as you tour this recreated village. This Native American tribe valued blue beads so highly that they would trade something like 100 canoes of corn for a handful of those beads.

*The original colonial spelling for Jamestowne included the final e that we typically don’t see in modern usage. You will see both spellings used in this guide.

**Interpreters are the guides and reenactors there to help you navigate the museum.

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Speculatively, then, when Pocahontas was kidnapped, it could be that she was recognized for her copper and blue bead necklace—a sign of wealth that few Powhatan girls would have been able to afford.

The interpreters can speak to you about how the Powhatan made canoes (and why), about scraping hides, making tools, weaving baskets (and houses), growing and preparing corn, jewelry . . . this is a fascinating place to learn about Native American tribes of the 1600’s.

3. The James Fort

See a musket fired. Try on armor. See the pikes that were the popular mode of warfare in Europe in 1607, and the bandoliers that allowed each man to load the precise amount of powder for his gun.

This is a community of adventurers, not farmers, and they survived because of the food they bought from their neighbors.

Plan for approximately three hours—enough time to talk with various interpreters at length.

Pack a lunch for the day and find the picnic area near the parking lot after the busy morning of learning about Jamestown Settlement.

As a nice afternoon break, after lunch return inside briefly to watch the Jamestown movie. This movie might need some translation for the younger children, but it manages to convey a surprising amount of information in a short period of time—including introducing the idea that there are three cultures clashing at Jamestown, not just two. Enslaved Africans soon are brought to Jamestown.

After you’ve watched the movie, walk through the museum. The curators have done an outstanding job demonstrating the similarities and differences of three cultures—African, European, and Powhatan. What did the original dwellings of the three cultures look like? What about their tools?

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Historic JamestowneOnce you’ve oriented yourself to the time period in Jamestown Settlement, go to the site where it all happened: Historic Jamestowne.

1. The site of the original Jamestown is a small triangular fort, with a few acres surrounding it. You can walk the paths and read the interpretative signs. Although the acres might look like little more than a grassy field, they once held houses and industry.

2. The Archaearium Museum, included with the admission price, is well worth a stop,with 4000 items creatively displayed and well curated.

3. In the Historic Jamestowne Visitor’s Center, check out the movie in the museum, or simply walk through to see original artifacts.

Before you leave Jamestown altogether, make a stop at the glassworks. This short walk includes a demonstration of glass blowing. Watch a craftsman create a one-of-a-kind vase, an ornament, or some other incredible creation, using the molten glass. It is mesmerizing and gorgeous, tempting to touch, and easy to forget that the broken bits create shards—they look like candy.

Such a satisfying day!

Historic Jamestowne

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American Revolution Museum at YorktownThe outdoor exhibits about the Revolutionary War are an excellent place to start. Here you’ll go to the Continental Army encampment, where six men slept in each small tent. Go on in—what would that have been like? Talk to the camp surgeon about the possibilities for care after a wound, like how to pull out a musket ball. (By the Civil War, bullets shattered the bone, but with muskets, they would just embed in the bone. No pain killers, just a stick to bite on.) Watch the demonstration of the musket firing—fascinating to see all the steps in action. Go to the company kitchen. How did the Revolutionary Army eat? Hardtack and beans, cooked in a creative oven. See the laundry, the officer’s tent, the quartermaster, and the munitions area. Spend some time there learning about mortars and shot, and about making your own bullets.

Life in a Revolutionary War encampment is fascinating and brilliantly presented by kind interpreters who know their material very well.

Ask if there will be a cannon demonstration. If it’s around 3 pm, plan to be back for that. But in the meantime, if the school groups have started to overrun the tobacco farm part of the exhibit, move indoors. (This museum has school groups down to a science, so though you will probably have them swirling around you at times, overall, you may find that you have interpreters to yourself.)

Visiting Yorktown

Plan for a full day for the two attractions

The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown & Yorktown Battlefield

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Watch the powerful movie in the Siege Theater which runs every 12 or 15 minutes. You’ll probably have a few minutes to wait for it to begin, so look around the museum until it’s time.

What role did the French have in this all-important battle? Why might schoolchildren say “Rochambeau” when playing rock-paper-scissors? How did Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette play an important role in the Battle at Yorktown?

Be sure to watch the film before heading to the Yorktown Battlefield, a mile or two away.

The Yorktown Battlefield Visitor’s Center parking lot is shady, with ample spots for a picnic lunch and a mid-day break.

American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

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Yorktown BattlefieldThis museum has a partial ship reproduction with informative and helpful dioramas on the upper deck. It also has part of George Washington’s original tent on display—and you can walk inside. Washington’s real tent!

There are a few cannons outside, and the town of Yorktown—a short walk away—is picturesque.

Because the battlefield itself is something like 14,000 acres, to view this area well, you have to drive the sixteen miles of roads. This is not, perhaps, the most exciting time for children. Take this drive as downtime or a much needed rest for little ones. As you drive the quiet roads, take note of the informative signs, watch for bald eagles, and get a grasp of the overwhelming enormity of the number of men, both from the American colonies and from France, who participated in this siege. Also take note of how terribly far apart everything was. It’s powerful to witness.

Return to the Revolution Museum after the drive. The tobacco farm can be nearly empty after the 3 pm cannon demonstration.

Head inside to the museum. Several short videos run on continuous mode; one about the Battle at Saratoga is especially informative. There are also various uniforms (and it makes sense why the fog of war would be so great—several uniforms looked almost identical, though the soldiers were on different sides).

Yorktown Battlefield

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Visiting Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg is an immersive experience, so large and varied, with so much unique and creative programming, that it is impossible to recommend a single best course of action. A thorough visit will take about three days. Take the time to go to plays or performances, or to enjoy tours or special children’s programming if you can. Some of the shops are so captivating, you’ll find you want to stay for almost an hour. (The gunsmith is the only shop in the world that still makes guns by hand, from start to finish. Amazing!)

Some shops are less interesting, and you’ll want to bow out after a few minutes. If that happens, you might try to return on another day. Sometimes a different interpreter makes all the difference.

Williamsburg is divided into three sections; Palace Green, Market Square and the Capitol. You’ll end up visiting each area over multiple days because not all the workshops are open every day. You’ll end up walking a fair bit, so wear comfortable shoes, and enjoy yourself. It’s a beautiful location, and well-maintained.

You can find several itineraries on the Colonial Williamsburg website. Whether you have people more interested in fashion or firearms, more into textiles or trades, you can prioritize according to interests.

Plan for two or more full days

Colonial Williamsburg

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LOOKING AT THE COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG MAPThe map is, literally, the key to the whole 173 acres.

There are three general areas in Colonial Williamsburg—the Palace Green, the Market Square, and the Capitol.

Not every attraction is open every day. The places that are open have a flag out front—this includes stores and restaurants. If you’re on a budget and excited to learn new things, you will want to focus on the Historic Sites and the trade shops—these are all complimentary for ticket holders.

The map also tells what is open on what day, and the posted times are quite precise. This is helpful information, as you can prioritize sites, based on what days you will be in Colonial Williamsburg.

You might also enjoy the shops with goods for sale and the restaurants.

SCHOOL GROUPSSome mornings, you’ll find it difficult to get into any trade shops, as there are school groups inside. During these times, seek out the attractions where school groups don’t go—like the Capitol Tour or the Rockefeller’s Bassett Hall.

The school groups are typically gone from the attractions by noon.

https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/map

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HOW TO WORK WITH INTERPRETERSThe interpreters in Williamsburg quite literally bring the historical crafts and trades to life. Most interpreters are wonderful and love to have people interact with them. Seeing, touching and questioning everything is an amazing way to learn even more completely what you’ve learned in history.

PRO TIP! Here’s a question to get a conversation started with any interpreter: “Can you show me what you do, start to finish?” Each shop is set up with demonstration pieces, to show how they join wood, how they make a wheel, how a piece of tinware looked before it was crafted, or all the parts of a shoe.

Because we live in a fast-paced world, many tourists enter a trade shop, look around at all the tools, then move on. Three minutes and done. (You can confirm this because some interpreters have a continuous spiel going, that loops about every three to five minutes.) But if you demonstrate curiosity and no need to hurry, you will learn amazing things by spending more time in a trade shop.

For example, at the tailor you might learn that “Calico” was named after the Calcutta Company (Cal-Co). It was originally a brand name.

Colonial Williamsburg

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Or at the blacksmith you might wonder about the black material coming off the metal every time the blacksmith strikes. That’s oxidized iron. And cast iron is different—it has to be so thick because it is surprisingly fragile. Any thinner, and it would shatter when dropped.

Or at the carpenter’s—does the person in the pit get covered in saw dust? Nope! Because of the direction of the blade, the man in the pit only gets covered with dust if the wind changes.

Take your time and feel free to ask questions. Some favorite trade shops include: wheelwright, foundry, silversmith, blacksmith, tailor, weaver, gunsmith, mantua maker, tin shop, wigmaker, brick maker, and carpenter.

Shoemakers Shop

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A FEW FAVORITES!

• Don’t miss Charlton Coffeehouse, where you get complimentary hot chocolate (or tea or coffee). Delicious!

• Capitol Tour. This is a fascinating don’t-miss-it look at the days leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Why did the colonists feel the need to rebel? How was King George overstepping his legal bounds? Learn about this explosive time in American history in the place where it happened.

• Rockefeller’s Bassett Hall. John Rockefeller, Sr. was the richest man in history (net worth estimated at $240 billion, compared to about $80 billion for Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates). His son, John Jr. donated much of the family fortune to various causes, including Colonial Williamsburg. Tour the house of the only son of the richest man in the world, including the kitchen, the most modern and up-to-date of the 1940s, with linoleum floors. This is a fantastic tour.

• Playbooth Theater. Entertaining, child-friendly plays a couple of times a day. This is the site of the first theater in America, but even without the history, go to learn and be entertained.

• Patriots at Play. If this is available during your visit, this activity is a pleasant way to pass a half hour. Try your hand at 18th-century games, pet a sheep, learn about colonial “plastic” (cow horns—inexpensive and moldable).

• The Fife and Drum Corps gives more than 700 performances each year. If you sit or stand on the north side of the field (in front of the big tree), you’ll be more likely to have a clear line of sight, and avoid large groups. If you have the energy to follow the musicians as they march down Duke of Gloucester Street after the performance, that’s a thrilling end to the day.

• Palace Exploration. The Governor’s Palace is an impressive building, normally only available for viewing as part of a tour. It’s a good tour, but it can be long for young children. If you have youngsters, the Palace sometimes opens for walk-throughs during the last hour before closing, so you can walk through at your own pace, without a tour. The number of guns and swords in the main hall is quite impressive!

• Bruton Parish Church. This church’s organ has 5,686 pipes and regular complimentary concerts.

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SHOPPING

Enjoy a stop in Prentis Store, where they sell goods made in Colonial Williamsburg. Did you help in the brickyard? Get a brick. Did you watch the weaver? Pick up a dishcloth.

THE ART MUSEUMS OF COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURGThis attraction is two museums in one building, along with a small exhibit for the hospital. The hospital was for the mentally ill. (You could guess this both from its distance from the town, and its rather severe appearance.) Though the building itself seems quite modest, most of the museums are underground. At the front desk, you will be offered a complimentary key for a locker to stow jackets and backpacks so you can move through the museum unencumbered.

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art

“Folk Art” is defined as “art done by an artist who has no professional training.” These pieces tend towards the whimsical. Abby Rockefeller loved these creations, as she valued the varied experiences of Americans in many places. So a room or two is dedicated to weather vanes, or to quilts, or sculptures, or storefront figures.

DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts

Filled with beautiful examples of silver, ceramic, furniture, weapons, printed textiles, dollhouses, musical instruments, and such. These pieces are all about the craftsmanship.

There are the two sides of the museum.

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The Mariner’s Museum and Park

Dedicated to the Battle at Hampton Roads, the Civil War battle between the ironclads Monitor and Merrimac, this museum includes Monitor artifacts and a full-scale replica of the Monitor. It usually has several 3D movies playing, for an additional fee. And don’t miss the International Small Craft Center. With almost 150 boats from 42 countries, you’ll see things like coracles and gondolas, canoes, and yachts. The pages of your history books and travel guides spring to life here—really a special exhibit.

Pirate’s Cove Miniature Golf With both an easy and a more challenging course, well designed and maintained on an almost impossibly small piece of ground, even a three year old can enjoy 18 holes. Children 3 and under play free.

Food for Thought

If you want to splurge on a meal out, Food for Thought is an excellent choice. Allergy-friendly menu, great ambiance, cheerful service, and delicious food, all for a reasonable price. Note that the wait time can be long if you have a large group.

Busch Gardens WilliamsburgIf your family loves adventure and thrill, consider a visit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. With over 25 attractions, special events, Sesame Street characters sightings, and a seasonal waterpark, Busch Gardens is an option for additional family fun right in the Historic Triangle’s backyard.

Additional Activities to Do in the Surrounding Areas

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Pirate’s Cove

Busch Gardens

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Practical Tips to Smooth Your Way

When to Go• Note that more school groups go on field trips on Thursday and Friday

than on Monday and Tuesday. If you can weight your travels towards the beginning of the week, that’s preferable to weighting it at the end.

• Hotel rooms are cheaper from Sunday through Thursday nights. Friday and Saturday nights you’ll pay a small premium.

• Summer in Virginia is generally hot, and winter can be chilly. While there isn’t a “bad” time to visit, fall is ideal.

• Twice a year, in the spring and the fall, admission to Colonial Williamsburg is reduced for homeschoolers. You might end up dealing with more crowds, but that can add to the sense of a bustling, thriving town. Search online for “Colonial Williamsburg homeschool days” to find out the dates—either so you can be sure to attend those days or avoid them.

• Locals rave about Christmas at Colonial Williamsburg. The Grand Illumination, when all the lights go up, is an amazing time. The trade shops have a competition for the best wreath, and these can be quite elaborate. With ice skating, carolers, and general festive air, Christmas in Williamsburg is amazing.

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Where to Stay• Many hotels are within ten minutes of Colonial Williamsburg, which will

also put you within about 20 minutes of the Jamestown and Yorktown sites. Williamsburg is a college town and a tourist destination, so you’ll find plenty of restaurants and grocery stores.

• If traveling on a tight budget, consider a hotel with a full kitchen, like a Residence Inn.

• You might opt for a hotel with a pool (indoor will be open year-round, while outdoor are only open seasonally). whe

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What to Eat• For breakfast, your hotel might offer a complimentary meal. Or you could bring

bagels, toast, cereal, eggs, breakfast burritos—all fast and easy to prepare.

• For lunch, it is easy to prepare sandwiches or sack lunches in the hotel room in the morning and eat near a park or in the parking lot at the various attractions.

• For dinner, think through easy meals that require little prep work beyond heating or reheating. Consider things like noodles with spaghetti sauce, nachos, chili, hot dogs or sausages, and soup.

• Additionally, there are a ton of local restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the area. There are family-friendly quick service locations, fancy restaurants and even some styled for the 18th-century.

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What to Reasonably Expect from ChildrenMost likely, you know a little more about history than your children. And you know that they have a limited attention span.

When you go through a museum or exhibit, don’t expect them to gather every bit of information from every sign. Rather, skim the signs and sum up the information. Do your best to relate it to what your children might find interesting.

For example, at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, there’s a display with three or four uniforms from both the Continental Army and the British Army. There are beautiful signs explaining these uniforms in detail. But the big picture point that a child can easily grasp is: in a battle, some of the uniforms look almost exactly alike. While the Continentals wore blue and the British wore Red, once you add in uniforms of the French (for the Continental Army) and the Hessians (for the British), and a few variations more, there’s some white on both sides, and some blue showing up where you wouldn’t expect it. The fog of war must have been tremendous, especially in hand-to-hand combat, on a field obscured with artillery smoke.

The Historic Triangle has some hands-on areas and some areas that are hands-off. Encourage children to explore with all their senses when allowed. And if you’ve been in a hands-off area for a while, take some time so your children can let off steam. Children have energy, and it’s okay for them to run in places that are appropriate for running.expe

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Appendix A: The Historic Triangle and History ReadingThe Historic Triangle is an excellent supplement to early American History studies. Here are some examples of books that come to life in Sonlight D: Intro to American History

• Pocahontas and the Strangers takes place in and around Jamestown. See the fort where she was imprisoned, and the lands she walked.

• A Lion to Guard Us tells about the Starving Time that the settlers endured. The Jamestowne Settlement demonstrates the hard life that the settlers faced.

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond: although this story takes place in New England, the hardships faced by the early settlers were similar to those of the settlers at Jamestown. Get a sense of the challenges of growing and surviving in a new world.

• The Story of Eli Whitney tells of how he invented both the cotton gin and interchangeable parts for guns. Visit the gunsmith at Colonial Williamsburg and see the laborious process of crafting a weapon by hand.

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• The Journeyman tells of a New England apprentice stencil-maker, decorating the walls of houses, bringing beauty to plain rooms. “They were New England craftsmen and could use only those designs adaptable to their tools and to the houses of which they would be a part.” These craftsmen did not hang wallpaper, imported from England, as other itinerants did—they created their own art. In many rooms around Colonial Williamsburg, you will find period-appropriate wallpaper. So you can see the wallpaper, shipped over from England, a sign of prosperity and Virginia’s connectedness with the crown.

• Johnny Tremain takes place, partially, in a silversmith shop. Visit the silversmith in Williamsburg.

• Justin Morgan Had a Horse tells of Joel, the apprentice who worked for an inn and sawmill. You can find examples of both of these in Williamsburg—the sawmill, with the pit saw; the inn, with the meeting room and the sleeping chamber. It is easy to picture what it would be like to labor in these locations.

Find all these book plus more supplements at sonlight.com

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Appendix B: Sample ItineraryThe following is an example of how many things you may be able to fit into a day in Williamsburg. Use this as a starting point for your own itinerary. Please note that you will also need one day for the Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne, and one day for The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown and Yorktown Battlefield.

From 2:30 to 5pm:

• Buy tickets for the week

• Walk from the Visitor Center to Colonial Williamsburg

• Palace Gardens and root cellar

• Palace Kitchen (making beer)

• Wheelwright

• Cooper

• Wythe House

• Geddy Foundry

• Walk back to Visitor Center

From 9:30am to 5:15pm:

• Shuttle to Capitol Stop• Presbyterian Meetinghouse• R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse for the included

hot chocolate• Silversmith• Apothecary• Wetherburn’s Tavern tour• Blacksmith• Artificer• Cabinetmaker• Firing of the Noon Gun • Picnic lunch• Printing office• Bindery• Courthouse (take a few minutes to watch

the proceedings)• Tailor• African American Religion—Baptist Church• Joinery• Running of the Engine: a bucket brigade

and the fire engine shooting water• Magazine• Weaver• Geddy House• Bruton Parish Church• Palace Exploration: after 4pm, see the

Palace without a tour—perfect for small children

• The Necessity of Order in Battle: a demonstration of tactics

• Marching into Evening: Fife and Drum corps

• Walk back to Visitor Center

Day 1 Day 2

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Appendix B: Sample Itinerary Continued...

From 9:30am to 5:45pm:

• Shuttle to the Tavern Stop• R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse (not

necessary to repeat, but the hot chocolate was too good to pass up)

• Capitol tour• Public Gaol (Jail)• Rockefellers’ Bassett Hall• Picnic lunch• Gunsmith Shop• Milliner & Mantua Maker• Playbooth Theater for “Entertainments

at the Theater”: 20 minute play about the first balloon flight

• Public Hospital• Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art

Museum• DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum• One of the party did “Printed, Painted,

Stained, & Dyed”—a lecture about printed cloth

• Colonial Garden• Shoemaker• Tin Shop• Wigmaker• Marching into Evening: Fife and Drum

corps• Follow the Fife and Drum corps to the

end• Walk back to the Visitor Center

From 9:30am to 2:30pm:

• Walk to Great Hope Plantation—no interpreters, but signs up

• Walk to the Revolutionary City

• Randolph House tour

• Patriots at Play

• Brickyard

• Carpenter’s shop

• Walk through Raleigh Tavern

• Wigmaker again, for a different interpreter

• Prentis Store for good children gifts

• Playbooth Theater for a second, different show

• Stop at Market Square for free pins and a little more good children shopping

• Shuttle back to Visitor’s Center

Day 3 Day4

INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE

Intro to American History, Year 1 of 2Level D

INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE

Intro to American History, Year 2 of 2Level E

4-DAY

PARENT GUIDE

American HistoryLevel 120

US HISTORY HOMESCHOOL PROGRAMS FROM SONLIGHT

As part of Sonlight’s three sweeps through history, your family will study American History three times in the years from

preschool through high school.

American HistorySonlight 100

Intro to American History, Year 2 of 2

Intro to American History, Year 1 of 2

Learn More at sonlight.com/us-history

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